thank you for the reviews! I love hearing your thoughts and rest assured that your wishes for Regina will materialize. Emma will redeem herself, as well and there will be SQ friendship, so stay tuned. In the show Emma is so protective of her parents, I felt that in this realm and at this age she would hate REgina to begin with because of her fierce protective nature over David. Leopold is a sleaze because I think he was one on the show, taking a child bride and practically imprisoning her and invading her privacy; so this doesn't seem far off from his character to me. Also, the angst won't last forever and between this chapter and the next, things will begin to change for David and Regina. Please review! I tend to update faster if I see you all are as into this story as I am into writing it xoxo

Anger was eating her alive on the inside and magic seemed to be her only outlet. It had been two weeks since Leopold's threat and she was growing anxious on what to do. David was still avoiding her and she felt she had no opportunity to seduce him even if she'd planned to.

She was trapped. Being black mailed into giving herself to a man who had no interest in her. How was she supposed to sleep with David when he constantly rejected her? But what was the alternative? Her stomach turned at the thought of Leopold and the way he'd been eyeing her when they crossed paths in the halls.

Regina had stopped going down to the dining hall for meals all together now, for David was never there. It was either Leopold or on the odd occasion, Emma, and she did not have the patience to sit through a course with either one of them.

Granny brought food to her room and fussed at her to eat, but she had no appetite. All Regina wanted to do was run, but where would she go? How would she get there?

She contemplated this as she lifted a boulder with her magic, relishing in the feeling of release it gave her as she tossed it against another rock and watched it break into smaller pieces. Though she knew the basics of her magic, she did not feel it would be enough to protect her if she ran away.

Bitter hopelessness was all she felt. Grief and rage were chipping away at her soul and inviting extra space for the darkness to grow. No one loved her. No one cared if she lived or died. Of course, maybe her mother would, but that was only because she'd lose her status as mother of the Queen.

"Practice makes perfect," Rumple giggled when he watched Regina pick up another boulder with magic, "That's it, harness that anger…it's magnificent what it can help you achieve."

"Why are you always around?" Regina grit through her teeth when he appeared, slinging the boulder past him and into the woods behind him. The sound of the trees crunching under the weight of the rock soothed her. Destruction was relief.

"That's my job, Deary," He surveyed the strewn rocks she'd catapulted around the forest in her rage with a satisfied grin, "What's the matter? Are you still unhappy, Your Majesty?"

"I'm more than unhappy," She glared over at him knowing he was fully aware, "I need you to teach me more. I need a way out of this hell and I need to know everything about my magic and what I can do before I try to escape."

"Expedited lessons? Oh my," Rumple raised an eyebrow, "That's going to cost you."

"What do you want?"

"What do I want? Oh, it's more like what do you want," He approached her, grabbing her attention with his wicked grin, "What do you want most of all?"

"To be happy," She admitted, swallowing the lump of emotion that welled in her throat and trying to steel her expression.

"Wrong!" He pointed his finger in the air, "You want revenge. Revenge on that stupid girl for making you save her, revenge on the kingdom of idiots who gossip about you, revenge on your husband who won't even look at you, revenge on dear Leopold….revenge on your mother," His voice lifted at the mention of Cora.

"I don't care about revenge, I just want my freedom," Regina looked at him firmly. She felt him cooking up a plan, trying to harness her turmoil into something that would benefit him.

"Of course you do, Deary. You can run away from here, but what would you have? Nothing. You'd be a poor beggar, always on the run while the people who took everything from you live like royalty..er, are royalty," He lifted a brow in amusement, "Your loving mother would live comfortably the rest of her miserable life even if you ran away. The woman who took everything from you and put you into this prison…Are you really telling me you don't want her to suffer?"

She stared at him for a long moment, willing herself to stay strong. There was a battle going on inside of her between her mind and the darkness she felt in her heart. Daniels' death and her seven months at the kingdom had taken it's toll on her mentally and it was a struggle to not go insane and throw caution to the wind.

"If I use my magic for revenge, I turn into my mother," Regina managed to reply after a moment, "I told you, I won't do that."

"It's darling that you think you could," Rumple flashed his rotten smile, "Soon enough you'll come running back to me and magic, begging me to teach you more when your husband rejects you once again and Leopold is trying to have his way with you."

"I want to learn magic, but I won't play into whatever little scheme you're plotting just so you'll teach me," She glared at him, "I'll figure this out on my own. Leave me alone."

"As you wish."

And then she was alone. In the forest with nothing but her deep seeded rage. Her only option now was to do as Leopold said and try to seduce the King. If she could simply manage to do it only once, it would secure her more time to research magic on her own. Rumple had given her a few books, how hard could it be?

Then once she felt secure enough in her abilities, she'd make a plan to escape here. Freedom was the only thing she wanted at this point, and she was prepared to do what it took to make that happen.

David lounged on the chaise in his room while mindlessly flipping through pages of a book. He'd retired early that night after coming home and finding the castle empty, but he couldn't seem to fall asleep when he'd tried. He felt restless, like he should be doing something about his situation but didn't know what. So he'd ended up kicking back with one of his favorite novels, trying to lose himself in fiction.

Emma was spending the night with one of her friends and had not been there to share dinner with him per their usual routine as of late. He and his daughter were growing closer and he was beginning to see the old Emma coming back to the surface. His daughter had been spunky and funny before she lost her identity in the catty royal society. He was glad she was coming back to him for he had missed his girl.

He hadn't seen anything of Regina but he'd been giving serious thought as to what he should do since Granny brought it up to him. He couldn't very well let the Queen deteriorate from loneliness and grief under his own roof. How struggled with how to approach her, though. She'd made herself scarce, living like a recluse in her own wing and making sure their paths never crossed.

When Snow White died he went to the dark place Regina was in. It was all a part of the grieving process and he understood it well. He didn't think that Regina being somewhere she didn't want to be helped her grief, either. He couldn't imagine if he'd had to deal with an unwanted marriage the same year he'd lost his wife. Losing someone was something you had to go through yourself before you fully understood the toll it took.

Regina had seemed so content the night of the ball, but he could tell she was simply compartmentalizing. He had learned to get through grief you had to meet every step of it head on. There had been a stage where he tried to snuff out the emotion down inside of him and simply get over it. The anger and sorrow had only festered in him and came out of him in other ways. Usually through drinking too much or being hateful to everyone who tried to help him.

He felt like Regina was in the worst of it right now with no light to guide her out. For him it had been Emma who made him want to get better. If he hadn't had a child to get better for, he wasn't sure he would have. Regina deserved the same kind of support, but he knew if he got close enough to comfort her in this way he'd fall for her. The thought of being in love again scared him. To let someone behind his walls with no guarantee that it would work out was truly terrifying. His heart had been through enough already.

David sighed, putting the bookmark into his page after failing at concentrating and stood, tossing it on the chaise he'd just rose from. He made his way over to his bed, stopping to pull his shirt over his head before reaching down to untie his pants.

"Need some help with that?" A familiar, warm voice from behind sent a jolt of adrenaline through him as he spun around quickly to make sure he wasn't hearing things. He hadn't even heard his bedroom door open and in his panic did not notice the faint remnants of purple smoke dissolving in the air from the Queen's transportation.

"Regina," He swallowed hard at the sight of her before him, daringly within reach and half naked. All she wore was a black corset that came down over mid hip with lace around the bottom edge to cover the apex of her thighs. She hadn't bothered with stockings, instead showing off smooth, toned olive legs. "What are you doing?"

"Couldn't sleep," She gave him a grin though he saw it didn't reach her eyes. Her gaze had an odd numbness to it and he could smell wine on her. He felt her hand reach out for the strings of his breeches and pull it undone. Shock gripped him but he quickly reached down to grab the edge of his shorts before they fell and exposed his member that was stirring to life.

"Is that so?" He looked down at her, studying her expression closely. What had brought the sudden change over her? Whatever it was couldn't be good. He couldn't imagine the Regina he knew approaching him in this way when things were so confusing between them.

"Is somebody shy?" She gave him a toothy grin behind red lips before pushing him back, causing him to fall on the bed behind him. He swallowed a groan when he felt her climb on top of him, straddling his lap. Her thighs clamped over his sides and she sat on his groin in the most delicious manner.

"Regina," He managed to choke out, reaching down to grab her wrists, but instead she pushed his hands over his head and leaned down to kiss him.

"Shh...I know you want me," She whispered against his lips, biting down on his bottom one and tugging at it as she started to grind her hips on top of his own. He audibly groaned when his body responded to her taking control and grew stiff under the pressure of her bottom.

She felt so good on top of him, breasts spilling out of the corset, her nipples grazing his chest. He heard her moan as she rode his hips harder, pressing herself down on his erection and enjoying the friction his breeches provided for her. He could have pulled his wrists from her grip above his head but he kept allowing himself one more moment of pleasure, promising himself he'd stop before it went too far.

"I do, I just-" He began breathlessly but she kissed him again, slipping her tongue into his mouth and whimpering into it as she rolled her body against his. His thoughts were lost for a moment, enjoying the sensations of their skin on skin contact, the softness and friction he had sorely missed.

"I want you, David," Regina lifted her head to look down at him and he saw an honesty in her eyes behind the heated expression. He believed her when she said it, hell he wanted her just as badly. Images flooded his mind of what they could do to each other, ways he could make her scream. For a moment he could almost push the pesky confusion of what had suddenly prompted her behavior to the back of his mind.

All of his thoughts became fuzzy when she buried her face into his neck and rode him harder with a whimper. Her arousal had soaked through the thin cotton of his breeches and he felt it and responded with a loud groan. Something inside of him snapped and he pulled his hands from her grip, grasping her narrow waist and flipping her onto her back.

She looked up at him with surprised eyes before leaning up to press her lips to his in a bruising kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck, fingers threaded through his hair and nails scratched his scalp. Her body felt like heaven underneath his, her hips curling up into him in search of what she wanted, what he had no doubt that she wanted. Blood rushed to his groin, feeling himself throbbing at the thought of being inside of her.

He reached for the thin strip of lace between her legs, preparing to rip it off when he glanced up at her. Her hair was splayed behind her, breasts nearly fully out of her corset. Her lips were flushed from bruising kisses and her chest rose and fell quickly with her heightened breath. David could feel the wetness on his hand as he gripped the black lace that covered where he wanted to be most. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her, physically at least, for he felt the proof of that on his fingers. But something made him hesitate when his gaze met her eyes and found them troubled. She tried to mask it with a smirk when she noticed his hesitation, but he'd already clocked on.

She wanted this just as much as he did, but her pride would have kept her from coming here tonight. This was prompted by something else entirely. "Why the sudden change?" He asked her breathlessly, letting go of her panties and bringing his arms up near her head to hold himself up over her and force her to look at him.

"What are you talking about?" There was a frustrated twitch in her expression that he'd come to recognize meant she didn't want to discuss something.

"You coming here tonight, Regina," He said firmly as he stared down at her and she did everything she could to avoid his gaze, "We've been avoiding each other for a month now...What's brought this on?"

"Why do you care? I'm here, I'm willing," She replied breathlessly, running her hands up his arms and over his shoulders, "Why do we have to talk about it?" She looked up at him with beckoning eyes, though he could see the insecurity behind her expression.

"There's nothing I want more than to fuck you senseless right now," He grumbled under his breath as he hovered over her, his bottom half laying in between her thighs still, his hardness pressing into her, "You've got me painfully aroused right now, which pisses me off because I have a conscious and I can't fuck you when I know you came here with an ulterior motive. What game are you playing?"

"What game am I playing?" Her eyes grew wide and furious as she began to sit up, scooting herself up the bed and out from underneath him, "You know most married people do this, David! Is it such a wild idea that I would want you to touch me?!" She sniped at his accusation, hurling their marriage in his face like a barb. He knew she wasn't the type to be intimate with someone she wasn't in love with, so her reaction to him right now gave her away even more. She would not have come here on her own will with how troubled their relationship was and want to be in his bed.

"I do want to touch you! I want to do much more than touch you! I've tried to ignore it for months now," He snapped back, painfully hard and frustrated at himself for putting a stop to what they had been doing, even if it was the right thing to do. "You and I both know we aren't there yet, though. I also know you well enough to tell that you would not do this had something not prompted you!"

"You're impossible!" She yelled at him, scrambling towards the edge of his bed and he saw her beginning to get upset. She did her best to keep her back towards him so he could not see her face as she bent to pick up her robe and wrap it around herself.

"Regina, goddamn it," He cursed and scrambled after her when she began to flee, his feet hitting the floor with a thud, "Just talk to me!"

"Goodbye, David," She grit through her teeth with glossy eyes and a rage he'd never seen in her before. His mouth dropped a little when she disappeared with a flick of her wrists into a purple cloud of magic. There was something final about it her goodbye that worried him. Was she going to hurt herself? Was she going to leave? He stood breathless and bewildered, trying to process what had just happened.

Regina grimaced and hunkered down on her horse to try to gain speed, running her full force through the forest. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and she was sure by the look on the guards faces when she'd torn out of the barn on her mare that Leopold and David were aware by now. She couldn't be there anymore, not after what she'd just done.

Her mother was right, she was unlovable. Rage and shame bubbled within her as she slapped Rocinante's reins against her neck to try to make her go faster. She needed away from all of it before she suffocated. She'd never be able to face David again after going to him in a desperate attempt to save her dignity being ripped away from her by Leopold, only to do it herself.

She'd done everything she imagined David may have liked and at one point even got into the moment. He was attractive and his hands had touched all of the right places, spurning her on in her haze of desperation and anger. It had almost happened, he'd almost lost control and ravaged her like she'd tried to get him to. But something had held him back, something was always holding him back.

Even offering herself up to him, heated and half naked had not been enough to make him disregard his wife's memory. Regina's cheeks burned as she recalled how she acted so brazenly, moving on him in a way that had come to her instinctively and felt good in the moment. She'd rather die than go back there and face him now that he'd seen her act like that. He'd even proven he did not trust her by accusing her of playing games in her seduction of him. Not to mention what Leopold had planned for her soon.

In her haste she'd transported herself back to her room after leaving David's and paced furiously until she knew that if she stayed in that castle one more minute she'd lose her mind. So she'd changed into the plainest riding clothes she could find and fled to the stables. She would have transported herself out of the kingdom with magic, but she wasn't sure how far she could summon herself to go yet and Rocinante was her only friend. If she was leaving, she was taking her with her.

"Come on, Rocinante! Go!" She pleaded with her horse, hunkering down closer to her neck, stealing glances behind her for fear of seeing the royal guards chasing her any minute. Adrenaline rushed through her as she saw the intersecting paths ahead that would lead her from the kingdom, "We're almost free!" She half laughed, half cried as her mare galloped towards their safety.

Suddenly she felt the sensation of someone gripping her arms, lifting her off of the horse and catapulting her into the air as Rocinante continued to gallop into the distance. She looked at her wrists to see tree limbs wrapping around them like serpents, a larger one wrapping around her waist multiple times and squeezing her. They held her in the air, causing her to gasp for breath.

"And here I thought we were done with all of this nonsense."

Regina's blood ran cold at the familiar voice coming from behind her, knowing instantly that her escape was foiled. Cora would never let her leave and she was a fool to think that just because she hadn't seen her since her wedding, didn't mean she wasn't still keeping tabs on her. "Hello mother. What evil have you conjured?"

"Not evil, Darling, a barrier spell," Cora replied after a chuckle that made Regina's jaw clench. Her mother was silent for a moment before she suddenly felt the tree limbs let go of her and she fell unceremoniously onto the ground, catching herself with her hands. She felt small gravels embed themselves in her palms but the pain felt like relief compared to the turmoil inside of her. "Designed to keep you where you belong."

Regina stood slowly, turning around to face her mother with a glare, "I can't leave?"

"Not alone, not without the King," Her mother replied with the smug expression on her face that she always had when she felt she'd put Regina in her place. "We've been through this...You're married, you are Queen. You're free to go, whenever you're with him."

She swallowed hard as desperation clawed at her insides and she once again disregarded her dignity, looking at her mother with pleading eyes, "Mama, I don't want to be Queen, I don't want this life."

"You're just afraid of your power."

"I don't want power! I want to be free," She begged Cora to understand. She was after all her mother, the woman who gave birth to her. The woman who was supposed to understand her more than anyone else in this realm.

"Power is freedom," Cora looked at her with a genuine smile that made Regina want to believe her. She wanted so desperately to have someone that cared about her and guided her in her best interests. She was past her breaking point and Cora knew better than anyone how to manipulate that. Still, she craved for her mother to take care of her, despite knowing deep down that she never would. "Don't worry, I'm here to guide you."